The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-02-05

not TO exceed SIPS per acre and they
were TO be selected and located In con-
forrnity with the legal subdivisions OF
such surveys and appropriated accord
ing To the last will and testament OF
Robert Porterfeld. This scrip wasde-
cided TO be located upon any surveyed
lands not legally appropriated, except
mineral lands. The latter restiction was
in 1872, removed by law taking of all
restrictions upon mineral lands and
placing them on a level with and making
them locatable the same as other lands.
The lands Of the Canal Co., are not nj
fected i'm the same manner by the pro-
visions of that law, because they were
granted and located under provisions Of
an act Of congress restricting the selec-
ton Of mineral lands at "A prior date,
and the law OF 1872 can not, therefore,
apply To the Canal Co.'S lands. Speak
ing with the leading mining men on the
subject, we failed TO learn anything from
them that would, or could bee used one
way or the other, except their total lack
OF seeing anything in the Porterfeld
Scrip whereby the leases OF the above
mines could Ice set aside. John T. Bur
ton said: My titles are derived mostly
from the Newport 4 Lake Superior Land
Co., of Newport, II. l., who bought the
land outright from the government.
All OF the Iron King, Bonnie and Blue
Jacket mines, the north hall OF the First
National and the most valuable part
the central eighty acrcs-of the Valley
ment sold to the Newport company for
cash. They can not, therefore, be in any
way affected by the suit. The Tontine
and the south half of the First National
located ON lands owned by the Canal Co.,
and occupy the same position as the
Aurora, NoI1ie, Ashland and Pabst
mines, but there is not enough Porter
The amount OF Porteriicld scrip origin
ally issued only covered $500 acres, and
Smith, understand, has only six GER
tificates. These certificates entitle him
To enter six forties OF unsold government
land. The Aurora, Ashland and Norrie
each consist OF four forties and the Pabst
two, fourteen fortics i'm all 80 that Smith,
apparently, has not scrip enough TO COW
er all Of the land ON which the mines
mentioned i'm connection with the report
eel suit are located. ! do not consider
that there Is any prospect oi Smith being
successful TO the least extent, in his law
suit against the Canal Co. The land in
question was not known and could not
have been known to contain mineral
when the Canal Co., entered il. There is
not a single out-crop ON the whole Range.
But assuming that Smith gets possession
of the land, which is the worst that
could possibly happen, what would be
the result? Simply that the leases Of
the companies now operating the mines
would be renewed. These companies
have taken hold Of the properties in good
faith and have spent hundreds of thous-
ands Of dollars in developing them, and
no court Of equity would eject them. II
is not To the interest OF the owner, no
matter who is the owner, 60 eject the com
panies. The Aurora, for instance, in
which ] sold my stock some time since,
will pay royalty OF S1OO,000 this year
To the owner OF the fee. have been in
formed, said Mr.. Burton, as the report
or was leaving, that this suit is threat
ened for the purpose Of bearing the mar
ket, but |, for one, shall not dispose OF
my stock at centless thanit is worth. y"